


Chocolate Chip Pancakes at the End of the World

by Chibifukurou



Category: Zombieland (2009)
Genre: Gen, Misses Clause Challenge, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-23
Updated: 2012-12-23
Packaged: 2017-11-22 02:11:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/604670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibifukurou/pseuds/Chibifukurou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When she was a kid Witchita firmly believed that her mother's chocolate chip smiley face pancakes could fix anything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chocolate Chip Pancakes at the End of the World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [duckgirlie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/duckgirlie/gifts).



> A HUGE thank you to RSF for the quick beta on this. Thanks so much for letting me ramble about fic ideas!!!
> 
> Also, sorry for the complete lack of Zombies.

After Pacific Playland they go back to Bill Murray's house. It's stupid, but Wichita is getting attached. She'd sworn before this whole mess started that she would never let herself depend on a man again.

She swore that she would be all Little Rock ever needed.

But somehow that’s changed.

She can't even make herself steal a car and drive away the next morning before the boys wake up. Instead she makes pancakes with chocolate smiles. Like her Mom used to make before one of her deadbeat boyfriends killed her.

She tries not to think too deeply about what it means, that she's willing to share this special memory with a bunch of strange men she picked up at gunpoint. 

Tallahassee is the first one up. He wanders into the kitchen while she's still trying to get the hang of the stove. The pancakes she's already made are burned on one side, with their chocolate eyes and mouths melted into something that looks more like a zombie face than a smiley face.  
He leans over to stare at them. She expects him to make some comment about her lack of cooking ability, with a snide remark about her womanhood thrown in for good measure.

He just harrumphs before heading towards the coffeemaker. She forces herself to relax and concentrate on the pan. No need to let him know that she cares about his opinion.

She's flipping a half-decent pancake onto the plate, when he comes up beside her. Two coffee cups are steaming in his hands. "I didn't take you for the type who did nice things for people who weren't family."

"I don't." She takes the second mug when he hands it to her. 

He grabs the edge of one of the zombie pancakes. She brings her spatula down on the back of his hand, before he can pick it up. "Those are for breakfast."

"We'll I wasn't exactly planning to use it for target practice."

She gives him a dirty look. "Breakfast doesn't start until everybody is at the table."

He lets go of the pancake. Tipping his hat back he leans against the cabinet sipping at his coffee.

She gives him a look, trying to decide if she can trust him to keep out of the pancakes. Probably, but it never hurts to be safe. Besides, if she leaves them on the counter for much longer they’ll get cold.

The oven is already warm so all she has to do is grab the plate and relocate the pancakes "You don't need to watch me cook. It's not like I'm going to poison pancakes. It would be a waste."

"How did you make pancakes anyway, don't you need eggs or something?"

"You can make them without. A little baking powder and water and they're fine." She is gaining confidence now. She even dares to add teddy bear ears to the next pancake.

"Really?"

"If you think you can get me to let you eat a pancake early by questioning my cooking ability, you're going to be disappointed."

He snorts, but she can see him smirking out of the corner of her eye.

He stays quiet until for the next couple pancakes, before saying, "You'd be a good mother."

It makes her jump, and her spatula cuts off one of the teddy bear's ears. She cuts the other one off too, because a one-eared bear is just sad. "Like it matters? I'd never bring a harmless baby into this world." 

"The kid, he's traditional. What are you going to do when he wants kids?"

She glares at him. "Just because I told him my name, that doesn't mean he has any claim on me."

He frowns. "Don't suppose it does, but that-" He motions at the frying pan with his coffee cup. "is a gift, and you're not the type who gives gifts to people.”

Wichita squeezes the spatula handle so hard, she can feel its edges cutting into her fingers. "This isn't a gift. I owe you two for saving us last night."

"So you're feeding us pancakes?"

She might have only known him for a few weeks, but she knows the sound of sarcasm. "How do you think I should pay you back? I don't have any Twinkies lying around and it's like money is good for anything."

"Look, you're not like the kid, you don't need me to sugar coat things. If this is some sort of goodbye breakfast or something, then maybe you should think about leaving before he wakes up."

And didn't that just hit a little too close to her earlier thoughts? "How is that any of your business?"

"It ain’t, but he's already followed you once. You let him get any more attached and he's going to keep following you. He's worse than a puppy that way."

She actually has to let that sink in for a moment, before she figures out what he's doing. "Are you seriously giving me the shovel speech?"

"The what now?"

She rolls her eyes. He acts like such a kid sometimes, she forgets that he's got to be in his forties. Of course he wouldn't recognize Buffy quotes. "The speech where you warn me that you're going to bury me in the backyard if I break Columbus' heart."

He pushes off from the counter to amble back over to the coffeemaker. "Nah, if you break his heart I won't waste time burying you. I'll put a bullet through your head and tell the kids you got bit."

She bites her lip to keep from yelling at him. She's knows what men are like -- she shouldn't have expected him to say something comforting.

"If it makes you feel better, I'd do the same thing to him if he broke your heart."

Fucked up as it was, it did make her feel better. "We're a mess aren't we?"

"Well it's the end of the world. I figure if we are still sane enough to drive our family crazy then we're not completely screwed up."

"Yeah."

He came back over to the stove, and reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, moving slow enough that she could have pulled away if she wanted to. "Look, you don't want to get into a relationship with the kid, I'll back you up. He might be a little upset, but he cares too much about you to let it ruin whatever it is we've got going."

There is the sound of people running in the hallway that leads to the kitchen. Tallahassee pulls away and starts banging through the drawers.

Little Rock slides into the kitchen on sock feet, making the corner without running into anything.

When Columbus slides through the door he manages to slam face first into the cabinets across from the door.

Tallahassee roars with laughter and Wichita can't help but join him. It's just so typical of him.  
Little Rock wraps her arms around Wichita's waist and stares at the pancake still bubbling in the frying pan. "Teddy bear pancakes," she whispers with something like reverence.

It makes tears prickle at the back of Wichita's eyes. 

Thankfully Tallahassee rescues her before she can get weepy. "Yep! Your sister’s been cooking all them all morning. And she wouldn't even let me have one until you two lazy-bones got up."

Little Rock lets go of Wichita, to put her her hands on her hips. "Family dinners don't start until the whole family is at the table," she says.

The urge to cry just keeps getting stronger. Little Rock sounds so much like their Mother when she says stuff like that. If she closes her eyes, she can almost believe that she is back in their too-small apartment kitchen. 

"Well I bet that we're not allowed to eat without setting the table first, either." Tallahassee counters.

"Nope." Little rock agrees.

"Well then you had better help me figure out where Bill Murray would keep his silverware."

"Okay."

As they pass her, on the way to search the drawers on the other side of the kitchen, Tallahassee reaches out to give her shoulder a quick squeeze.

By the time they've trashed the kitchen, trying to find silverware and plates, she's got the rest of the pancakes made and on the table.

The four of them sit down together. Tallahassee and Little Rock make up ridiculous life stories for the pancake bears, while Columbus watches with that same stunned look of wonder that he always seems to have.

It's not like it was all those years ago, when her Mom made pancakes and Wichita still thought that everything could be solved by family breakfast. It's new and strange and they're eating on mismatched gold leaf plates that retail for at least $50 dollars apiece, but fucked up and broken as they are, they're still a family and maybe she wasn't wrong about family breakfasts fixing things.

Because it feels like this is the start of a new life. One where she doesn't have to protect Little Rock alone.

# # # #  
Fin


End file.
